About

Eamon Murphy was an English grad student before joining DailyFinance in 2011. As associate editor, he has written about Occupy Wall Street, the price of Legos, the value of artwork by Thomas Kinkade, and the human cost of making Apple products. In addition to U.S. culture, material and otherwise, he is interested in world politics, linguistics, and literature.

According to Homeland Security officials, the amount of counterfeit merchandise entering the United States is increasing, and the problem is especially acute in the lead-up to an event like the Super Bowl. For instance, federal agents recently seized more than $6 million of counterfeited goods and shut down more than 300 illegal websites in an action dubbed "Operation Fake Sweep." The 42,000 confiscated items include jerseys, hats and jackets.

In addition to looking authentic, the phony gear was cleverly ticketed: "The prices are not ridiculously low," said John Morton, director of Customs and Immigration. "They are discounted just enough that a consumer might think they are the real thing."

The Super Bowl is "a huge target for counterfeiters since it's so exciting for fans to have a piece of memorabilia about an event they're so emotionally tied to and so enthusiastic about," says Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer at MarkMonitor, a firm that provides Internet brand protection services.

To give some idea of "how profound the counterfeiting issue is," Felman's firm ran a study looking at the suspected counterfeiting of five unnamed brands' merchandise. "We found 1,300 sites selling what we believe to be counterfeited goods," he says, "with 800,000 units sold annually. Many of them were linked to a Chinese registrant or registrar." According to the full report, "The e-commerce sites selling this suspicious apparel attract 56 million annual visits."

"Counterfeiters -- people making things that are easily reproducible, like jerseys other types of sportswear and sporting goods -- they look for any opportunity they can to promote their activity," Felman explains. "In the U.S., the Super Bowl is at the forefront now, everyone's being bombarded by messages about it. The scammer's bonanza is anytime there's anything that drives a lot of traffic. They can bury their message in this flow and draw a lot of eyeballs and profit from it."

To describe the experience of going online during Super Bowl season, Felman uses a fitting simile: "It's almost like going into this digital stadium and seeing scalpers selling fake tickets. Instead, they're hawking fake jerseys and all kinds of paraphernalia and memorabilia."

For consumers concerned to avoid fake Super Bowl jerseys and the like, Felman has the following advice: "Be extremely suspicious of prices that are too low to be true. If its price is that low, then it's likely a fake." You should also consider the digital storefront surrounding the merchandise: "Look carefully at the website itself. Is it constructed in a legitimate fashion? Does it look like the English is written well and it's been put together professionally?" And rather than following ads or promotions to find an online seller, go to a reputable retailer of branded items.

The cost of buying online from a fraudster can be greater than simply the embarrassment and anger of being duped. "Some people think, oh, maybe I get a $30 or a $49 sweatshirt, worst case it comes apart or is defective in some way," Felman explains. "But you don't know how this has been put together, what the composition of the dyes is, what risk you might be exposed to."

Even worse, a lot of the organizations selling these goods are part of larger criminal operations. "You may not be assured that your credit card is especially safe with them," either because their payment process lacks sufficient security measures or because "they intentionally adopt a strategy to abuse the responsibility you've given to them," Felman warns. "You have to be very careful with these sort of fly-by-nighters because the risk might not be just that you get a defective product; it could be that you lose your identity and find yourself having to dig out of a financial mess."

i have actually given this some thought in the past. my stance is if the original is made in china than i will buy the counterfeit product also made in china. whats the difference ? maybe these companies should make their stuff here and the people might actually care.

Some one on here, asked, was the stuff made in the USA? It has to matter to the USA first..A man i worked with got his citizenship..As part of this,he was given a pin of the american flag..He showed me the pin..I turn it over and lo and behold, on the back,it had made in Taiwan

until they decide to manufacture their products in the United States, I say boycott their products. Your only making them richer at the expense of cheap labor, besides, only a fool would pay to advertise their products. Ask yourself...do you really need it

How much does it cost for the US government to bet the "special police" for the NFL?Like this will ever stop !! What does the NFL think when they charge 50 bucks for a cap.Let me see i could pay 50 bucks for an original or 12 for a clone ??? hard decesion hahahahaha

In NYC you have to gross 5k if you want to take home 3k , unless you make less than one thousand a week taxes will kill you! And unlike the 1% most people have to work more than 60 hours a week to stay afloat!

Take a guess. So instead of getting the Chinese made item from a website that paid off the football league you get it direct. They should be made here I hope they are. It can be done, I've delivered those before.